Iran Vows to "Punish Mad Dog" After Missile Strike

Iranian officials issued a series of sharp threats against Israel Monday morning after the Revolutionary Guards claimed responsibility for launching ballistic missiles at Israeli targets.

The threats came after renewed Iranian missile fire toward Israel and overnight Israeli strikes against regime targets in central and western Iran.

The Revolutionary Guards said they had fired missiles at the Nevatim and Tel Nof air bases in response to what they described as Israeli attacks on radar targets inside Iran.

“We launched missiles at the Nevatim and Tel Nof air bases in response to the attack on radar targets in Iran,” the Revolutionary Guards said. “We are prepared for every scenario and for an expansion of the fighting on all fronts.”

Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesman for the National Security Committee in the Iranian parliament, said the launches were carried out from the same site that US President Donald Trump had claimed was destroyed.

“The launches were carried out from the same place Trump said he had destroyed,” Rezaei said. “We are prepared, even beyond the level of readiness we had on February 28. We will continue to stand firm and will not retreat until the mad dog of the region is fully punished.”

Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, said the missile response had been expected.

“The forecast given a few days ago has come true. The missile response has arrived,” Velayati said.

He claimed that Israel’s actions in Beirut and what he called a “blatant violation of the ceasefire” had activated the first link in Iran’s response chain.

Velayati also warned Israel and its allies not to misread the current calm around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. He said the Iranian-backed axis has the ability to close both major maritime routes in the region.

“The security that currently exists in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait should not cause the enemy to miscalculate,” he said. “The resistance axis has the ability to lock both waterways.”

He then issued an ultimatum, saying Israel and its allies must either stop what he called their “foolishness” or enter a new balance in which both straits are subject to a structured deterrence equation.

Mohammad Marandi, a former adviser to Iran’s nuclear negotiating team, issued an additional threat aimed at critical infrastructure.

“If Iran’s critical infrastructure is attacked, there will be no critical infrastructure left in the occupied territories, nor in the dictatorial regimes cooperating in the Persian Gulf,” he warned.

Marandi claimed such an escalation could bring “the end of the global economy as we know it.”

The threats come as Israel continues striking targets in Iran in response to missile fire toward Israeli territory. Home Front Command has also tightened restrictions, with the most significant change being the cancellation of all educational activity across the country following the latest security assessment.